Author of the Alchemancer and Assassin Without a Name fantasy series

Mostly, I read for entertainment. Most of the titles below fit that bill. Some, like The Men Who Killed the Luftwaffe, find themselves on my reading list because I love history (Revolutionary War, Napoleonic, World War II, Ancient Rome timeframes are all thumbs up) and have great respect for anyone who has served in our military. I find their stories emboldening and interesting. Other reads, like What Kings Ate and Wizards Drank, are just fun, and something I hope provides information that finds its way into my writing. There’s one financial-related book in this year’s best because I love what Jim Cramer does for the small investor and I found this book in particular hit very close to home because Mr. Cramer talks quite a bit about the tech bubble of the late 90’s. I graduated college in 1994 and lived in the Silicon Valley area (I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area) during the rise and fall of the stock market during that era. Looking back, it was quite a ride. I don’t think any of us really knew what we were in the middle of, but it was some good times. The rest of the books are the usual fantasy, with a little steampunkthrown in, but all good reads (otherwise they wouldn’t be on this list) I recommend.

Carrying on the tradition of listing out my favorites reads of the year (here are my favorite reads of 2010 and 2011; apparently I skipped 2013—some tradition, huh?), I give you the books I found most enjoyable in 2013.

Carrying on in the tradition of my annual Year In Review posts where I took a look back at each of 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011, here's my review of 2012 from a blogging and writing perspective.

Blogging

Late last year I decided to start blogging every day. This obviously had an impact on the amount of content produced and the number of posts I ended up with. I was kind of surprised, though, that it didn't result in a new high. As this table shows, 2010 remains my most prolific year as a blogger.

Year

Total Posts

For Year

2008

157

2009

219

62

2010

363

144

2011

407

44

2012

514

107

Still, 107 posts is significantly better than the previous year and I managed to just come in over 500 total. 500! Wow, it feels good to be able to write that.

In terms of traffic, I'm going to hold off on the effect that making daily posts has had. As one would expect, traffic is up. But is it up significantly year-to-year from when I wasn't blogging every day? That's a determination for a future post.

That's 128,947 combined views! If you look at the total number of views of all posts, it's 953,371. Almost 1 million views since my first post back in January, 2008.

Now, on to writing.

Writing

I didn't complete the next novel in the Alchemancer series. That was a bit of a disappointment for me. But I made some moves related to the day job about mid-year which has put me in a good position to finish the next book by early 2013. On the plus side, I've got a solid outline I'm working from and I'm making consistent, daily progress.

Also, I've added a lot of worldbuilding type of info to the World of Uhl site. Information about the various kingdoms, their people, and specific characters that show up in my novels. Go check it out.

Last, I've got maps coming. The first one to go along with the story told in The Hall of the Wood is finished. I'll do a reveal in the next couple of weeks and also get it integrated into the eBook. The next map to come my way will be the one to go along with The Five Elements. Then I have two coming for The Nullification Engine, which is the next book in the Alchemancer series. The final and fifth map I've commissioned my cartographer to create is of Uhl itself. A full-on world map. It should be glorious.

Conclusion

I'll conclude with some stats and a thanks to everyone who has made this blog a success for me by stopping by, reading, commenting, and spreading the good word through Twitter and other social media outlets.

Thanks!

Total number of posts at EOY: 514 (at end of 2011: 407)

Total number of posts written in 2012: 107 (at end of 2011: 407)

Total number of views for all posts: 953,371 (at end of 2011: 716,639; an increase of 236,732)

Stay Connected

Find out about new releases first. Sign-up to receive an email notification when a new story of mine arrives on store shelves. As a special thank you, I'll send you the Tales of Uhl to read absolutely free.